It occurred to Prof Dr Sumera Jawad, the College of Art and Design principal, that they should do a residency on Gandhara art, of which the Central Museum, Lahore, is a rich repository. Just across the road, large windows allow a diluted daylight from the north because the building was erected in the pre-electricity days.

The visitors get to see the bygone civilisation come alive. But the art pieces on display do not belong to Lahore and the local geology reveals no traces of any stone. Lahore being the latest jewel in the crown of the British India, it was thought appropriate that any objects found in excavations should be displayed at the nearest museum.

Being the only museum in the vast territory from Swat to Harrappa and Mohenjodaro, it housed the artefacts of all these civilisations; hence the name: the Central Museum. Originally, it had started from the Exhibition Hall built in 1864, also known later as Tollinton Market.

The museum was built to mark the golden jubilee of Queen Victoria. Although many museums were built later nearer the sites, the one at Lahore remains the main attraction for visitors as well as scholars, local and foreign.

A team of visual artists was drawn mostly from the National College of Arts and the Punjab University College of Art and Design. It included Aisha Moriani, Amina Cheema, Khaleequr Rehman, Muhammad Ashraf, Rabiya Asim, Sumbul Natalia and Sumera Jawad who, though she was the initiator, also had to be listed in the alphabetical order. The project also had blessings of the Centre for Culture and Development, the International Council of Museums and the Lahore Museum director, Muhammad Usman, who greatly facilitated it and has also allowed the show to be extended till April 5.

But the residency had to be carried out on the spot, i.e., Taxila and beyond, from where most of the Gandharan objects were acquired. The participants had to understand the geology, topography, climate impact and local materials, especially the schist stone in steel grey.

Considering that the Taxila Museum has many more artifacts now, the participants spent some weeks there, deriving firsthand inspiration during February-March 2023.

Back in 1964, and on some later occasions, I had stayed at the Youth Hostel located opposite the Taxila Museum. I had traversed the hills and hillocks trying to explore for myself the mysterious ambiance. I had also done some high-altitude sketches in water colour.

The members of the residency have published a 19-page PDF document that provides visual as well as written clues to the research carried out independently but not in isolation. It has been named Love, Life and Belongings. The preamble says that the strategic location being inside the museum and near the Gandhara Resource Centre and the Buddhist ruins and monasteries made it the perfect place to research and work.

They say they also visited the Taxila crafts village where they interacted with the craftsmen working in the local material, i.e., schist. I have seen many skillfully producing replicas or ‘fakes’. I am convinced that they have the talent in their DNA. The team have specially thanked the Archaeology Department for the cooperation extended to them.

It is noteworthy that traditionally the department had always taken care to recruit only historians and never allowed visual artists and architects in their fold. However, times are changing. Now, according to UNESCO guidelines, research into tangible history is teamwork, benefiting from contributions from various disciplines.

The members of the residency published a 19-page PDF document that provides visual as well as written clues to the research carried out independently but not in isolation. It has been named Love, Life and Belongings.

In her curatorial note, Prof Jawad has pointed out that the residency in Taxila was a celebration of the rich heritage of the region (therefore of Pakistan, I must say). The e-catalogue says that the participants worked in their own independent ways. This diversity can be witnessed in the display at the Lahore Museum. It includes three dimensional, i.e., sculptural work as well as drawings and paintings. The work includes realistic as well as abstract interpretations of history and the aura thereof.

Though sculpture in stone is a hallmark of the period, some of the residency participants have produced their pieces in plaster cast. An amazing inclusion is Khaleequr Rehman, otherwise a competent urologist, who has produced reliefs in schist in a circular disc.

One of the exhibits is a stylised depiction of a squirrel. Another illustration has a seated figure bracketed in some subdivided space. It might be noted that schist stone can be quite brittle if not handled with due sensitivity. Dr Rehman has also contributed some Siah Qalam entitled, In a Play. The other pieces in grey and white marble might not appeal to many.

Muhammad Ashraf, who studied at the University of East London, has come up with a large graphite drawing on tracing paper that appears to be the topography of Taxila. His two life-size portrait drawings appear to be gazing at the Boddhisitwas in stucco. Rubiya Asim, a PhD candidate, seems enamoured with Lord Buddha’s Wheel of Law. She has experimented with clay, plaster and cement moulds partially covered with gold leaf.

She has also used mixed media like acrylic and charcoal on hand-made paper. An NCA’ite, Sumbul Natalia, has briefly dwelt on the surprises the Gandhara brings to the new Islamic state. Being a PhD candidate, she has an inquisitive mind. Her mixed media collages have metaphorical undercurrents with titles like, “the mind is everything; what we think, we become.” She has used her three dimensional creations as installations.

For Sumera Jawad, Studio Practice is the key to understanding her work. She has been looking for the female forms in the Gandharan art. She is mostly into fertility, disease and ultimately death, which according to her is more utopian. She has contributed drawings in pencil and charcoal on stone. Two of the pieces are carvings in schist.

Amina Cheema admits that she fell for an anthology of Buddha after she visited Taxila and later visited the Lahore Museum frequently to study it and photograph and sketch the various depictions.

Aisha Moriani is another exception. Having graduated in fine arts from the Fine Arts Department in 1992, she joined the civil service and has served in various senior positions, including the Pakistan’s permanent mission at the WTO. She has also participated in exhibitions here and abroad. She has contributed four colourful paintings in water-mixable oil paints. According to Dr Fauzia Saeed, water and oil don’t mix. This is another facet.

The residency and the exhibition are the first of the kind and may be followed by many more on other facets of Pakistan’s art history. That Pakistan could become a pilgrimage destination for Buddhists from the Far East and elsewhere has not been highlighted. The few tourists who come here carry a good impression of Pakistan. They should not be charged exorbitant fees for visiting museums and historical sites.

(Dedicated to Prof Zakia Malik Dil, who lectured me on Buddhist Art in early 1960s)

The writer is a painter, a founding member of Lahore Conservation Society and Punjab Artists Association, and a former director of the NCA Art Gallery. He can be reached at ajazart@brain.net.pk